Plate CCCXVII. Male and Female.
Bill with a gently sloping prominence in front, the lateral
protuberances bare; tail wedge-shaped, of fourteen stiff narrow
feathers. Male with the bill deep reddish-orange, bluish-white on the
sides, with a black patch, the unguis greyish-yellow; tarsi and toes
orange-red, webs dusky; plumage deep black, glossed with blue; a white
patch on the top of the head, and another on the nape. Female with the
bill greenish-black; the plumage brownish-black, darker on the top of
the head, back, wings, and tail.
_Male_, 20, 33-1/2. _Female_, 19, 31-1/2.
Abundant from Nova Scotia to Maryland during winter, and removing
southward to the mouth of the Mississippi in severe weather. Never
seen in the interior. Breeds from Labrador northwards.
Black or Surf Duck, Anas perspicillata, Wils. Amer. Orn. v.
viii. p. 49.
Fuligula perspicillata, Bonap. Syn. p. 389.
Oidemia perspicillata, Surf Duck, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor.
Amer. v. ii. p. 449.
Black or Surf Duck, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 416.
Surf Duck, Fuligula perspicillata, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iv. p.
161.